TAIPING, 4 April 2009: B Buvaneswary arrived at the Kamunting Detention Centre near here at 7.30am today, accompanied by her two daughters aged four and 2-1/2 years.

“The first thing I want to do is to take my husband for a meal,” she said of V Ganabatirau, one of two leaders of the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) the government has decided to release from detention under the Internal Security Act (ISA).

Datuk Seri Najib Razak, in his maiden address over television last night as the new prime minister, had announced the immediate release of 13 ISA detainees, two of whom are Hindraf leaders. The other Hindraf leader to be released is R Kenghadharan.

Buvaneswary expressed her thanks to Najib for the government’s decision to release her husband who has been in detention since December 2007.

She said she hoped that the government would also release three other Hindraf leaders — P Uthayakumar, M Manoharan and T Vasanthakumar. The other ISA detainees to be freed are seven members of Darul Islam, three foreigners held for falsifying documents and one member of Jemaah Islamiah.

Vuvaneswary’s other family members had also accompanied her to the detention centre in two other cars.

Ganabatirau’s younger brother V Papparaidu said the family was not informed of Ganabatirau’s intended release.

However, the centre had contacted the family at about 5pm yesterday and asked them to visit Ganabatirau today, he said.

“We were a little apprehensive on getting the news because visiting day is Sunday,” he added. — Bernama